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An employer does not "offer" qualifying health insurance if there is any "waiting period" for coverage. If the employer makes you wait 3 months, or 6 months, or some other period of time before making available qualifying health insurance benefits it must pay you at least $8.25 an hour while you are waiting to become eligible for that coverage.

For example, if your monthly wages (not counting tips) paid by your employer totals $1200.00, your employer cannot make you contribute from your own pocket more than $120.00 per month (10% of your monthly wages) towards your health insurance plan for you and your family members. If your employer required you to contribute more than $120.00 per month for full family health insurance coverage, then your employer would have to pay you at least $8.25 per hour. You need not accept the health insurance benefits in this situation and the coverage offered by the employer must include full family for spouses and dependents. Your employer has to make available to you the qualified health insurance coverage, even if you are just a part time worker, if it is going to pay you less than $8.25 an hour.

​Nevada’s minimum wage law covers almost all Nevada workers, including many such as agricultural workers who are not covered by the Federal minimum wage law. Nevada currently requires employers to pay a minimum hourly wage of either $7.25 per hour or $8.25 per hour. The employer must, itself, pay either that entire $7.25 or $8.25 an hour; tips that the employee receives cannot be used to reduce the amount the employer must pay.

​​​Nevada's minimum wage also applies to workers who are paid by the "piece" or on commission or by the job or by the day or week. The worker's pay, based upon the number of hours they have worked, must equal at least $7.25 or $8.25 an hour even if they are not paid "by the hour."

An employer who offers its employees and their families "qualifying" health insurance coverage is only required to pay its workers $7.25 per hour, all other employees must be paid at least $8.25 per hour.

If you believe your employer may be violating Nevada law by paying you and other workers less than $8.25 per hour, please contact our office for a free, no obligation, confidential consultation. You can reach us at 702-383-6085, call anytime. Email inquiries can be sent by clicking here or by using the contact link at the top of this page.

​For an employer's health insurance plan to be "qualifying" and allow the employer to pay just $7.25 an hour means the employee's contribution for coverage cannot be more than 10% of what that employee earns in wages (not tips) from the employer each month.

Based upon our experience, it appears that many Nevada employers are violating Nevada's minimum wage law by doing one or more of the following:

Paying less than $8.25 an hour and offering no health insurance to part time workers;

Paying less than $8.25 an hour and calculating the employee's 10% insurance cost contribution based upon the employee's total earnings, including their tips. This means the worker has to pay too much to get health insurance coverage and be paid less than $8.25 an hour;

Paying less than $8.25 an hour during the waiting period for an employee to qualify for insurance coverage; or

Paying less than $8.25 an hour and not making available properly qualified insurance that also covers the employee's family members.

​​Paying less than $8.25 an hour and giving employees very limited benefit plans that do not meet Nevada’s insurance requirements. Those plans may just give employees access to a doctor for general healthcare appointments and provide no coverage for hospital treatment or surgery or provide other very limited benefits